tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45701427596654149462024-02-07T00:49:39.551-08:00Evan McKenzie on Politics and LawYou call this political science?Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-74007483202866793292019-02-18T06:13:00.001-08:002019-02-18T06:13:58.292-08:00Trump Seeking to Privatize Fannie and Freddie – Without Congress | Habitat Magazine<a href="https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Co-op-Condo-Buyers/2019/2019-February/Privatizing-Freddie">Trump Seeking to Privatize Fannie and Freddie – Without Congress | Habitat Magazine</a><br /><br />
"<span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">First the Trump administration announced a </span><b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“national emergency”</b><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> in an effort to secure funds for a southwestern </span><b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">border wall</b><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> without Congressional approval. Now, the </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/617d11e0-2fb0-11e9-8744-e7016697f225" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.4s ease 0s; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_self">Financial Times</a><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> reports, the White House is moving to privatize the nation’s two largest mortgage guarantors, </span><b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fannie Mae</b><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and</span><b style="-webkit-font-smoothing: subpixel-antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Freddie Mac</b><span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">, without Congressional approval."</span><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Roboto, sans-serif;">Fannie Mae has assets worth over $3 trillion. Freddie Mac, over $2 trillion. If this goes through, we are looking at the end of constitutional government in the US. For 8 years, Republicans ranted about Obama's supposed executive overreach. Now Trump is going flat-out dictator, and what do we hear from Republicans in Congress? Mostly crickets.</span>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-83767467825641312862019-02-14T05:20:00.001-08:002019-02-14T05:20:54.574-08:00Military Families Report Major Problems With Privatized Housing : NPR<a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/13/694366838/military-families-in-privatized-housing-afraid-to-come-forward-survey-says?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news">Military Families Report Major Problems With Privatized Housing : NPR</a><br /><br />
Privatization is never the panacea that Republicans and libertarians claim it is. Introducing the profit motive creates an incentive to cut corners.<br /><br />
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"Severe mold, asbestos and electrical hazards are among the dangers in private military housing for thousands of service members' families, according to a new survey conducted by the Military Family Advisory Network. The report was released Wednesday, in conjunction with a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing about the state of privately managed military housing. Nearly 17,000 people responded to the survey across 46 states. And more than 55 percent of participants who lived in private housing said they were dissatisfied with how management companies oversaw their dwellings."Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-63580216902120809202019-01-20T06:16:00.001-08:002019-01-20T06:18:12.676-08:00Watch for Republicans to use the shutdown to privatize government<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-shutdowns-real-lesson-government-has-taken-hostage-too-much-of-the-economy-2019-01-10">The shutdown’s real lesson: Government has taken hostage too much of the economy - MarketWatch</a><br />
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I expect Trump and the Republicans to use this self-engineered shutdown as a pretext to privatize as many government functions as possible. The over-arching objective of the Trump regime, to the extent that it has one amid the chaos, is to advance the project of letting plutocrats strip-mine the national government of as many of its assets as they can grab before they are thrown out. This op-ed from Market Watch is part of that project. The national park system is one of the main targets. Airport are on the list. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tsa-closes-checkpoint-at-bwi-airport-citing-excessive-callouts/2019/01/19/0908381c-1c43-11e9-9ebf-c5fed1b7a081_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4b82d8b93564">With airport terminals starting to shut down as unpaid TSA screeners call in sick,</a> it won't be long before Trump and his enablers start talking privatization.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-86520488556552607922018-09-21T05:16:00.001-07:002018-09-21T05:16:10.606-07:00'Privatizing the coast': are wealthy Californians seizing public beaches? | Environment | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/21/privatizing-the-coast-are-wealthy-californians-seizing-public-beaches">'Privatizing the coast': are wealthy Californians seizing public beaches? | Environment | The Guardian</a><br /><br />
"Meanwhile near Santa Barbara, a homeowners association have blocked off 8.5 miles of coastline, and the only way for non-residents to access it is to rent a boat, anchor offshore, and swim or boogie-board the rest of the way in. The state is considering using eminent domain to regain access. It has also spent the last 40 years fighting property owners in Malibu who blocked their beaches, and at the end of 2016 it issued more than $5.1m in fines."<br /><br />
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By law, the California coastline is open to the public, but rich people block parts of it off and it leads to litigation.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-42957399036972716312018-09-01T06:50:00.001-07:002018-09-01T06:50:41.811-07:00Airbnb and the so-called sharing economy is hollowing out our cities | Gaby Hinsliff | Opinion | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/airbnb-sharing-economy-cities-barcelona-inequality-locals?CMP=fb_gu">Airbnb and the so-called sharing economy is hollowing out our cities | Gaby Hinsliff | Opinion | The Guardian</a><br /><br />
"Landlords have realised they can make more money out of short lets to well-off Airbnb users than from renting to conventional tenants who live and work in the city year round, so when contracts come up for renewal it’s not uncommon to find the rent suddenly shooting up to levels that young Spaniards can’t pay. Once they’re forced out of the neighbourhood, the empty flat promptly disappears into what’s still sometimes euphemistically known as the “sharing economy”, although what happens next sounds like the antithesis of sharing. Those lucky enough to own a desirable property get steadily luckier, by pimping it out to the highest bidders. Meanwhile, those who don’t have such an asset become ever less likely to get one, as property prices are pushed up across the city. Thus does inequality harden, and resentment deepen, while the failure of mainstream parties to solve the problem drives the young and frustrated ever closer to the political fringes."<br /><br />
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There are many forces that are increasing inequality and pricing people, especially young people, out of cities. This is one of them.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-33771975945982080282018-07-21T00:04:00.001-07:002018-07-21T00:32:46.387-07:00Look to Sheffield: this is how state and corporate power subverts democracy | George Monbiot | Opinion | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/24/sheffield-state-corporate-power-subvert-democracy-pfi">Look to Sheffield: this is how state and corporate power subverts democracy | George Monbiot | Opinion | The Guardian</a><br />
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See below--this is George Monbiot's take on what is going on in Sheffield, UK, where a privatization deal is leading to the destruction of thousands of street trees.<br />
Here's a <a href="https://savesheffieldtrees.org.uk/the-streets-ahead-pfi-contract/">statement from STAG</a>, a group that is trying to save the trees. The privatization deal is a PFI, or "private financing initiative," with Amey, a private infrastructure company that is a subsidiary of Ferrovial, a huge Spanish company that does the same sorts of things.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-15894636212555253002018-07-21T00:03:00.001-07:002018-07-21T00:03:10.575-07:00For the chop: the battle to save Sheffield’s trees | UK news | The Guardian<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/25/for-the-chop-the-battle-to-save-sheffields-trees">For the chop: the battle to save Sheffield’s trees | UK news | The Guardian</a><br /><br />
I was in Sheffield the week before last, and I heard this story about privatization gone bad (or so people say) from friends there. The city contracted with a private company called Amey to maintain streets, and the company is chopping down thousands of street trees. There are theories as to why this is going on, some of which are quite troubling. I will be saying more about this as I learn more and develop a better understanding of what is going on.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-72719286877599673292018-07-03T08:45:00.001-07:002018-07-03T08:45:43.530-07:00Donnie Rudd guilty of killing wife in ’73, making it look like car crash: 'It's been a 45-year nightmare' - Chicago Tribune<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-donnie-rudd-murder-trial-jury-20180702-story.html">Donnie Rudd guilty of killing wife in ’73, making it look like car crash: 'It's been a 45-year nightmare' - Chicago Tribune</a>: <br /><br />
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This article doesn't mention it, but Donnie Rudd was the principal author of much of the Illinois Condominium Property Act. The act was originally adopted in 1963. The legislature did a major set of amendments in 1983, and Rudd co-authored the amendments. At that time he had huge HOA and condo practice. Eventually he got in trouble for allegedly cheating his clients and was disbarred. There was suspicion that he was involved in the murder of one of his clients who was going to complain about him, but he was never charged. Then there was the wife of 28 days who, he claimed, died of injuries from a car crash. But now he has been convicted of bludgeoning her to death for the insurance money. Here's a <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-donnie-rudd-accident-or-murder-htmlstory.html">timeline of the Rudd legal saga.</a>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-56411849634539506632018-06-21T07:20:00.001-07:002018-06-21T07:20:52.698-07:00Gun toting squatters terrorizing Las Vegas condo community<a href="http://amp.ktnv.com/2623234589/neighbors-gun-toting-squatters-are-terrorizing-las-vegas-condo-community.html?__twitter_impression=true">amp.ktnv.com/2623234589/neighbors-gun-toting-squatters-are-terrorizing-las-vegas-condo-community.html?__twitter_impression=true</a><br /><br />
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Yet another condo community suffering from the failures of public and private government.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-27479596955688953512018-06-21T05:48:00.001-07:002018-06-21T05:48:40.367-07:00Loop North Mobile: Chicago has a bridge to give you<a href="https://www.loopnorth.com/news/mobi/bridge0618.htm">Loop North Mobile</a><br /><br />
Chicago will give the Chicago Avenue bridge to anybody who will take it.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-58074671574225200592018-06-19T12:33:00.001-07:002018-06-19T12:36:39.864-07:00Big rehab on tap for Kennelly Square in Lincoln Park after Strategic Properties closes deal - News - Crain's Chicago Business<a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/realestate/20180604/CRED03/180609964/big-rehab-on-tap-after-lincoln-park-condos-to-apartments-deal">Big rehab on tap for Kennelly Square in Lincoln Park after Strategic Properties closes deal - News - Crain's Chicago Business</a>: "After paying $78 million for a Lincoln Park condominium tower, a New Jersey real estate developer plans to spend another $10 million fixing it up.<br />
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Strategic Properties of North America completed its buyout May 31 of all the condos in Kennelly Square, a 268-unit high-rise at 1749 N. Wells St. At $78 million, it is the biggest in a wave of condo "deconversions" rolling through Chicago, propelled by the strong apartment market.<br />
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Strategic Properties and other developers have been buying up entire condo buildings and turning them back into apartments, believing they'll be worth more as rental properties, which have been en vogue with investors the past several years.<br />
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<b>But the deals are especially complicated because a developer often must persuade dozens, if not hundreds, of condo owners to agree to a sale.</b> Under state law, a sale of an entire condo building can go forward only if owners of at least 75 percent of the units vote to approve the deal. Strategic Properties barely crossed that threshold at Kennelly Square, with a 75.5 percent approval rate, said Michael Delrahim, a lawyer for the building's condo board."<br />
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This is going on in many condos here in Chicago. According to what I have been told, investors are able to turn a profit doing this because the market for apartments is actually better than the market for relatively inexpensive condo units. They buy 75% of the units, offering above-market price to the unit owners, and then sell the whole thing, which becomes an apartment building. There is nothing wrong with increasing the supply of rental housing in Chicago, but it raises the issue of how people are going to enter the housing market if the supply of inexpensive condo units gets depleted by deconversions. We are seeing a strange cycle play itself out. During the housing boom from 1995 through 2006, they couldn't convert apartments into condos fast enough. But now there seems to be more money to be made in deconversions. And another factor with low-end condos is inadequate reserves and deferred maintenance that leads to special assessments. When owners are facing massive special assessments, they are more likely to look favorably on an offer to sell the unit. As the story says, <i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Strategic Properties also plans to fix problems with the building's exterior that motivated many condo owners to sell. The building leaks when it rains, and its condo board had floated a multi-million-dollar special assessment to fix the problem. Faced with paying the special assessment or selling out, many owners chose the latter...</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">T<i>he deconversion trend is accelerating in Chicago, in part because many condo buildings find themselves, like Kennelly Square, facing big special assessments to cover major repairs, said Delrahim, the attorney. </i></span><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"There are still a large number of buildings that were built in the '70s and '80s that have deferred maintenance, and unit owners don't want to write the check," said Delrahim, managing partner at Chicago-based Brown Udell Pomerantz & Delrahim.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">."</span></i>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-51566254840638402032018-06-16T13:20:00.001-07:002018-06-16T13:20:33.938-07:00The world's largest retirement community is testing self-driving taxis — Quartz<a href="https://qz.com/1178706/the-worlds-largest-retirement-community-is-the-perfect-place-to-test-self-driving-taxis/">The world's largest retirement community is testing self-driving taxis — Quartz</a>: "The Villages retirement community in Florida has a name that belies its proportions. The 40-square-mile area features 750 miles of road, three separate downtowns, and a population of 125,000 senior citizens—nearly double the population of Palo Alto, California. In 2013 and ’14, the US Census ranked it the fastest-growing American city.<br />
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It is within this gated city that US car startup Voyage has aptly chosen to pilot its door-to-door self-driving taxi service, the company announced last Wednesday. The residents will be able to summon cars with the touch of an app, and the cars will operate at Level 4 autonomy—or full autonomy for all safety-critical driving functions—but still include a safety driver in case of emergency."<br /><br />
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<br />Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-44589300421697840652015-03-05T12:53:00.004-08:002015-03-05T12:53:54.451-08:00How Chicago's grassroots coalition forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoffThis article tells the story. The answer is, a whole lot of grassroots organizing involving many organizations that managed to join forces behind challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia to unseat the mayor. The runoff between Chuy and Rahm is April 7, so stay tuned. It will be exciting, and based on my own analysis of the numbers, it is possible for Chuy to win this.<br />
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<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17712/chicago_grassroots_movements">http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17712/chicago_grassroots_movements</a><br />
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<br />Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-39510800775818427062015-03-01T05:57:00.001-08:002015-03-01T05:57:46.211-08:00Amid drought, a turf war between residents and homeowners associations - LA Times<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-0227-abcarian-artificial-lawns-20150227-column.html">Amid drought, a turf war between residents and homeowners associations - LA Times</a><br /><br />
People in Southern California are dealing with drought conditions by not watering their lawns. That seems sensible enough, except that many HOAs continue enforcing their absurd requirements for green lawns. Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-45640648783760941832015-02-28T15:01:00.001-08:002015-02-28T15:01:12.759-08:00Young voters, political participation, and the 2016 election<br />
This is a work in progress, and I am posting it in the hope that people will read it and react to it. Tell me where I’m right, and tell me where I’m wrong or missing something.<br />
I teach Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and in years past I taught at a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and a large state university in California. Among other courses, I teach big introductory classes in American Government that are full of first and second year students, so I have been talking with a lot of young people about politics for 25 years. As a political scientist, I have also been reading what little is available in our literature about their attitudes toward politics and their political participation. Add to that the fact that I have three children between the ages of 17 and 23, all of whom are interested in politics, and I’d say I have a solid base to offer some opinions on young people and political participation.<br />
Here is what I know about how the 18-29 demographic views political participation. I think it means that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are in trouble in 2016 unless they make some changes in their approach to young people. I am intentionally oversimplifying here and overstating the differences between young and older people in order to sharpen the contrast. If I seem to be saying “all,” please understand that I mean a disproportionate amount. But as a practical matter these differences are determinative of election outcomes, and these are reasons why young people must be appealed to differently or they will not vote.<br />
How are young voters different than older voters?<br />
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Compared with older voters, the 18-29 voters are different in these ways:<br />
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They don’t identify with either political party. They see themselves as independent voters. Partisanship is not a motivator for them. They are disenchanted with politics in general, which they equate with senseless partisan conflict. They do not understand the differences in public policies that flow from having one or the other party in control.<br />
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They are not ideological. They do not see themselves as liberal/progressive or conservative/libertarian. While it is true that they are high on social tolerance, this does not flow from any ideological commitment. It is really a reflection of low attachment to traditional religious morality (see 3, below).<br />
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They are not religious. They do not subscribe to conventional religious morality and are not motivated by appeals to religious traditions. They are moral relativists who have a firm commitment to laissez faire with respect to other people’s choices of how to life their lives. This is because they believe in reciprocity--they place a high value on their own freedom from the demands other people might place on them to live in a particular way.<br />
4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They are not motivated by appeals from interest groups. Even though they may agree with the positions some groups take, they are not joiners. They don’t identify with labor unions, nor do they believe in working within the interest-group dominated, existing political system to bring about change. They are suspicious of appeals from these groups.<br />
5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They are not motivated to participate in politics by conventional patriotism, citizenship, or civic duty. They do not regard voting as a responsibility and will vote only if they know why they are voting and what they are voting for, and it matters to them. They must feel they understand what the election is about, and that their vote will bring about positive change in the near term.<br />
6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They don’t regularly visit web pages regularly, and they don’t use email unless they have to. They go to web sites to connect with social media, and that’s the way they expect to be informed and stay in touch with whatever and whoever matters to them. The medium has to be good and lively or they will tune out, because they have many choices. Even Facebook is fading for them. They favor Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, Pinterest, Flickr, and other even newer apps that are loaded with photos and short comments. They cannot imagine that there was a time without smart phones and instant connectivity.<br />
7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They do not read much, and they have short attention spans. They don’t read newspapers or books about politics. They live in an ocean of images and short, evocative phrases.<br />
8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They don’t watch TV news programs. News has to be packaged as entertainment or they will ignore it.<br />
9.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They have almost no sense of recent political history. Things that are enormously meaningful to baby boomers are non-events for today’s 18-29 voters. They know practically nothing about the 1960s culture wars, Viet Nam, Watergate, Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, the Iran-Contra scandal, the first invasion of Iraq in 1991, or even Bill Clinton. This is largely because K-12 education steadfastly avoids recent political history.<br />
10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They do not understand how public policy decisions in the past built the world they live in. Lacking any sense of the past, they have no historical perspective on major trends that began years ago and are affecting their lives today, such as the decline of labor unions, increasing income inequality, and globalization. They are intensely concerned about problems they see around them in their lives, especially their prospects for a career and a family. However, they don’t understand that these problems have been developing for decades, and they don’t understand how public policy decisions set all these trends in motion.<br />
11.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They are individualistic consumers, who do not understand that political change happens only through sustained effort by organized formations of political institutions. They want problems solved, and they have some awareness that political change could do that. Yet they lack perspective about the sustained and concerted efforts by organized groups—parties, interest groups, and social movements--that are necessary for that to happen. They equate politics with partisan bickering, that somehow both parties are equally to blame, and that if they could meet in the middle they could solve the problems. Competitive individualism and the rhetoric of individual responsibility have been drilled into them. They do not grasp that they need to become involved in organized and sustained political action or their life circumstances will not change.<br />
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If all this is true—and it is—then what are the political implications?<br />
A.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>They cannot be reached effectively by conventional political campaigns.<br />
B.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Special efforts must be made to connect with them, educate them, and organize them. If this is not done, they will form a lifetime habit of non-participation.<br />
C.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Republicans do not need to connect with them, but they are making efforts. Instead they have developed an electoral strategy that relies on mobilizing older voters and making it harder for young people to vote. Yet, as I explain below, they are actively fielding young candidates and media figures. They know that young voters went disproportionately for Obama and other Democrats in 2008 and 2012 and they don’t want that to happen to the same degree in 2016. But Republicans can win in 2016 if young voters just stay home as they did in 2010 and 2014.<br />
D.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Democrats need young voters desperately and they are not connecting with them. The dominant view within the party is that young voters do not turn out in midterm elections, but can be counted upon to come to the polls in presidential years. This is wrong, as I explain below. Young voters cannot be taken for granted—they must be won over and mobilized. If Democrats do not make special efforts to turn out those expected numbers of young voters, it will cost them the 2016 election and give total control of the national government to the Republicans, along with even greater dominance in state politics. <br />
E.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is possible for Democrats to connect with young voters. If they start now, and field younger candidates and advisors, and create the proper campaigns, and use the right methods, Democrats can mobilize the 18-29 voters in support of their candidates. If they do not make those efforts, youth turnout will probably be so low in 2016 that it is hard to see how the party can retain control of any branch of the federal government. It would take at least a decade for Democrats to become a presence in state politics across most of the country, but that could be done as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
What is wrong with the Democratic Party’s approach to young voters?<br />
Democrats need to begin by understanding why young voters turned out in large numbers to vote for Barack Obama; why they stayed home in 2010 and 2014, facilitating the Republican takeover of the US House and Senate and many state governments; and why the party’s current direction heading into 2016 is guaranteed to produce low turnout among young voters yet again.<br />
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Young voters have a connection with Barack Obama, not the Democratic Party or anything it stands for. In 2008, young people not only voted, they volunteered and they contributed money. They did this because the Obama campaign connected with them, educated them, and mobilized them for political participation. Obama connected with them for several reasons:<br />
a.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Youth: he was only 47 years old when he was elected.<br />
b.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A charismatic public image: he is handsome, engaging, has a compelling personality and life history, projects optimism about the future, and is one of the best public speakers in the world.<br />
c.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The promise of positive change in the immediate future: the slogan of the campaign, “Hope and Change,” captures perfectly the message that motivates young voters.<br />
d.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>He appealed to young voters on issues. He was perceived as anti-war; he advocated for increasing taxes on the rich while cutting taxes for everybody else; he favored government regulation of financial markets; he advocated for health insurance reform that would make it affordable for everybody; he favored immigration reform; and he took relatively progressive positions or evidenced progressive sympathies on abortion, gay rights, diversity, gender equality, and criminal justice.<br />
e.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Grass roots empowerment: the Obama campaign styled itself as a bottom-up campaign that would depend on the efforts of volunteers and small contributors, who would be seen as the core of the campaign and highly valued. At the same time it raised vast sums from Wall Street, but there was an unprecedented and path-breaking effort to collect small contributions, recruit volunteers, and run labor-intensive get-out-the-vote drives.<br />
f.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Wise use of social media: the campaign intentionally reached out to young people using every electronic platform they could access.<br />
g.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Creation of a social movement atmosphere around what was in fact a well-organized political campaign. Participating in the Obama campaign was fun.<br />
h.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Letting young advisors run the campaign. David Plouffe was 41 when he managed Obama’s 2008 campaign. David Axelrod was 53 in 2008. Robert Gibbs was 37. Jim Messina, who managed Obama’s 2012 campaign, was 43 at the time.<br />
<br />
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But gradually many young voters began to believe that Obama either would not or could not transcend partisan politics and deliver the changes he promised. This is not to discount his many accomplishments. It is just to say that many young voters became somewhat disillusioned with Obama. They still liked him, and they blamed his failures on an inability to overcome a political process about which they were already cynical. They are turned off by the partisan gridlock in Washington, although they do not understand that creating gridlock t was part of the Republican strategy. They came to believe that, perhaps despite his best efforts, he was not able to give them the results they hoped for. These results include ending wars, making higher education affordable, producing good jobs for them, solving environmental problems, ending racism, bringing about immigration reform, securing equal rights for rights of gays and lesbians, advancing the cause of social justice, revolutionizing energy generation and transportation, or even making the government run smoothly. These are matters of real concern to them. On some of these issues, things have gotten worse instead of better. They turned out for Obama in 2012, but this does not mean they turned out to support the Democratic Party. In fact, post-Obama it is likely that young voters will find politics uninspiring.<br />
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As for 2010 and 2014, the Democratic Party has failed to educate young voters concerning why mid-term elections matter. By contrast, Republicans have successfully mobilized their older base in one mid-term election after another since the election of 1994. Their voters know exactly why they need to vote on these elections and they can be counted upon to do it.<br />
4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Despite these failures, Democratic Party baby boomer leaders refuse to step aside and make room for a new generation. The Democratic Party lumbers on with the same baby boomer leaders who presided over their electoral catastrophes, and with the same mindset. It is as if there were a life tenure system for Democratic Party leaders in which there is not only no obligation to ever step down, but also no obligation even to cultivate and foreground the leaders of the future. By contrast, the Republicans clean house after electoral losses, and they are consciously grooming younger candidates and giving them prominent roles in Congress and state governments.<br />
a.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Congress: Normally when party leaders lose their majority they cede party leadership to others. Not former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, age 74, who continues to preside over House Democrats despite three disastrous elections in a row. In the debacle of 2010 the Democrats lost an incredible 64 seats. Democrats regained only 8 seats in 2012 despite Obama’s re-election, and then in 2014 Democrats lost 13 more seats. Senate minority leader, 75 year old Harry Reid, has a similar record. He continues to rule Senate Democrats despite losing 6 seats in 2010, regaining only 2 in 2012, and then surrendering control of the Senate in 2014 by losing 9 Senate seats in 2014. <br />
b.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Potential presidential contenders: Hillary Clinton will be 69 years old on election day in 2016. Joe Biden will be 73. Bernie Sanders will be 73. James Webb will be 71. Elizabeth Warren would be the baby of the possible candidates at 67. But the major Republican candidates include Scott Walker, who will be only 49 on election day, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who will be 45, and other candidates who were born after the baby boom.<br />
c.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The judiciary: Within Democratic and progressive circles there is an effort underway to build a cult of personality around US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg, who apparently delights in the nickname “Notorious RGB.” She is 81 years old, and should have retired when Obama could still get a successor confirmed by a Democratic Senate. Now that is impossible, and if a Republican President is elected in 2016, she will be replaced by a right-wing Republican. By contrast, Sonia Sotomayor is 60 and Elaine Kagan is 54, so they can hope to be on the court for decades, but they are resolutely ignored by Democrats in the media, who are infatuated with Ginsburg instead.<br />
d.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Party leaders: In 2004, Howard Dean was 54 and ran a remarkable and dynamic youth-oriented presidential campaign that laid the groundwork for what Obama did in 2008. As head of the DNC from 2005 to 2009, Dean successfully implemented a 50-state strategy that saw Democrats take over Congress in 2006 and helped Obama win red states in 2008. But Pelosi and Reid and other party leaders want no part of Dean, who has not held any elective or appointive office in government or with his party since 2009.<br />
5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Democrats will not have contested primaries in 2016, which will prevent any sustained effort to connect with, educate, and mobilize young voters. Hillary Clinton intends to bypass the primary season entirely and sail to an uncontested nomination. While she will avoid losing the nomination as she did in 2008, she will do nothing more than lose in the general election campaign. Hillary Clinton may be replaying the recent political career of Mitt Romney, who lost the Republican primary battle to John McCain in 2008, won the nomination in 2012, and lost the general election.<br />
<br />
How can Democrats connect with young voters, educate them,<br />
and motivate them to vote in the 2016 election?<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If all these things are true, then how can young voters be reached? That will be in another essay that I am developing, and I hope I will be showered with good ideas from people who read this one. The answer, I believe is to be found in two places: <br />
<br />
A. The ways Howard Dean in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008 succeeded with young voters. To connect with them, educate them, and mobilize them, the Democratic Party and its candidates need a coherent and consistent approach.<br />
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Give them an exciting, youthful, energetic candidate they can identify with.<br />
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Show them how you will deliver positive change in their lives in the immediate future.<br />
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Run against militarism in foreign policy. Show them how war has made their lives worse, and how international cooperation works.<br />
4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Run against economic, political, and social inequality in domestic policy. Show them how government can solve these problems.<br />
5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Let young advisors run the campaign<br />
6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Run a campaign that empowers the grass roots<br />
7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Create a social movement atmosphere<br />
8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make intelligent use of social media<br />
B.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Premise their campaigns on cognitive science instead of 1960s era strategies for mobilizing voters. Linguistics professor George Lakoff has been striving valiantly for over a decade to get Democrats to listen to him on this issue, with little success. In the next essay, I will talk about this issue.<br />
<br />
To be continued…<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-14595352846870817292014-12-25T07:39:00.002-08:002014-12-25T07:39:42.748-08:00Malfunctioning elevators leave residents of Northwest Miami-Dade condominium strandedA condo association has had malfunctioning elevators for six years and hasn't fixed them properly because they say they can't afford it. Now they are facing $5 million in fines. I wonder if they can afford that.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/north-miami/article4925946.html">http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/north-miami/article4925946.html</a>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-79908735638501867442014-12-25T07:09:00.001-08:002014-12-25T07:09:13.557-08:00Pasco County HOA calls homes unsafeIn the sense that they might fall down in a high wind.<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/2014/12/22/pasco-county-hoa-call-homes-unsafe/20693037/">http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/2014/12/22/pasco-county-hoa-call-homes-unsafe/20693037/</a>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-15223749775065131752014-12-25T07:07:00.000-08:002014-12-25T07:07:00.550-08:00Las Vegas HOA fraud trial will stay in Vegas<br />
Why? Because it happened in Vegas. The judge on this massive fraud trial ruled that the trial will stay right where it is, denying a change of venue motion based on the level of publicity. The defense is particularly upset at the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Jeff German for obtaining documents concerning Leon Belzer's plea bargaining talks with the US Attorney's office. Those talks didn't result in a deal, so off to trial they go. The funny part: the only reason German was able to get the documents is that one of the defendants put them in the court record and they were available to the public for two days. So the most damaging publicity is their own fault. <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-hoa-corruption-trial-stays-las-vegas">http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/las-vegas-hoa-corruption-trial-stays-las-vegas</a>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-59423762200031874142008-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:002008-10-11T21:44:53.484-07:00Illegal residents but responsible homeowners - Los Angeles Times<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-me-immighome6-2008oct06,0,4963586.story">Illegal residents but responsible homeowners - Los Angeles Times</a>: <span style="font-style:italic;">"More than 12,000 home loans were issued in recent years through a special program that relies on government-issued taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers, according to the association.<br /><br />The identification numbers, known as ITINs, were designed for foreign-born residents living legally in the U.S. but are widely acknowledged to be used primarily by illegal immigrants.<br /><br />The real estate association does not keep statistics on foreclosure rates. But it has reported that the delinquency rates for taxpayer identification loans were 1.15% or lower in 2006, compared with about 3.5% for other home loans.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Although illegal immigrants are also feeling the effects of the downturn in the U.S. economy, Sandos and others cite one major factor for the success of taxpayer identification loans: stricter requirements, including larger down payments, pre-purchase counseling and fixed mortgage rates."</span></span><br />---------<br />So all the requirements that were waived for low income Americans were kept in place for illegal immigrants, and the result is the former are more likely to default than the latter. Dog bites man. Maybe the National Homeownership Initiative wasn't such a good idea?Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-61565344125672016122008-10-11T19:08:00.000-07:002008-10-11T19:09:24.261-07:00FOXNews.com - Trillions Disappear in Stock Market, but Where Did Money Go? - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,436435,00.html">FOXNews.com - Trillions Disappear in Stock Market, but Where Did Money Go? -</a>: <span style="font-style:italic;">"If you're looking to track down your missing money — figure out who has it now, maybe ask to have it back — you might be disappointed to learn that is was never really money in the first place.<br /><br />Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale, puts it bluntly: The notion that you lose a pile of money whenever the stock market tanks is a 'fallacy.' He says the price of a stock has never been the same thing as money — it's simply the 'best guess' of what the stock is worth."</span><br />---------------------<br />Oh. It was just potential money. I feel much better now.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-41373506573535772392008-10-11T18:25:00.000-07:002008-10-11T18:25:13.205-07:00Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print">Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times: 1999</a>:<span style="font-style:italic;"> "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.<br /><br />Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.<br /><br />Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.<br /><br />In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent."</span>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-89438208405177942682008-10-08T19:17:00.000-07:002008-10-08T19:17:20.123-07:00TaxProf Blog: Arizona, Arizona State & Nebraska Law Schools Accused of Discrimination Against White Applicants<a href="http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/10/arizona-arizona.html">TaxProf Blog: Arizona, Arizona State & Nebraska Law Schools Accused of Discrimination Against White Applicants</a>Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-32909477695684482392008-09-22T17:13:00.000-07:002008-09-22T17:13:51.397-07:00Taking off the gloves<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080922200422.n3br0vct&show_article=1">McCain campaign savages New York Times</a>: <span style="font-style:italic;">"McCain senior strategist Steve Schmidt rebuked journalists he said had failed in their duty to submit Obama to intense scrutiny and accused news organizations of hounding McCain's running mate Sarah Palin.<br /><br />'Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by any standard a journalistic organization,' said Schmidt on a conference call with reporters.<br /><br />'It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor Palin, and excuses Senator Obama.<br /><br />'This is an organization that is completely, totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate, which is their prerogative to be, but let's not be dishonest and call it something other than what it is.'<br /><br />'It is an organization that has made a decision to cast aside its journalistic integrity and tradition to advocate for the defeat of one candidate -- in this case, John McCain.'"</span><br />--------------------<br />Now that is some strong stuff. And it isn't just the NYT. Listen to Saturday Night Live. Take a look at the cover of the Atlantic Monthly, read about the photographer who took that photo of McCain, and see what she did with <a href="http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/15/atlantic-monthly-editor-to-offer-apology-to-mccain-for-photogs-doctored-pics/">the rest of the pictures</a>.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-41880610369493736192008-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:002008-09-11T20:29:30.862-07:00...and so were the Rosenbergs<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/nyregion/12spy.html?ex=1378872000&en=c07e5f36ab5a4417&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink">For First Time, Figure in Rosenberg Case Admits Spying for Soviets - NYTimes.com</a>: <span style="font-style:italic;">"In 1951, Morton Sobell was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. He served more than 18 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, traveled to Cuba and Vietnam after his release in 1969 and became an advocate for progressive causes. Through it all, he maintained his innocence. But on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, 91, dramatically reversed himself, shedding new light on a case that still fans smoldering political passions. In an interview, he admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy."</span><br />-----------<br />To this day many on the left insist that the Rosenbergs were innocent. This is nonsense. There is no way to review the facts and come away believing that they were not Soviet spies who fed nuclear secrets to our enemies. Now, what will the left have to say about Sobell's recent decision to finally, at long last, tell something that resembles the truth?Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4570142759665414946.post-41148716095807546932008-09-10T21:19:00.000-07:002008-09-10T21:19:56.036-07:00What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer? by Byron York on National Review Online<a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OWMxNGUxZWJjYzg1NjA0MTlmZDZmMjUwZGU3ZjAwNmU=&w=Mg==">What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer? by Byron York on National Review Online</a>: <span style="font-style:italic;">"When he left for law school, Obama wondered what he had accomplished as an organizer. He certainly had some achievements, but he did not — perhaps could not — concede that there might be something wrong with his approach to Chicago’s problems. Instead of questioning his own premises, he concluded that he simply needed more power to get the job done. So he made plans to run for political office. And in each successive office, he has concluded that he did not have enough power to get the job done, so now he is running for the most powerful office in the land.<br /><br />And what if he gets it? He’ll be the biggest, strongest organizer in the world. He’ll dazzle the country with his message of hope and possibility. But we shouldn’t expect much to actually get done."</span><br />---------<br />This is a detailed and surprisingly sympathetic account of what Obama did in his three years here in Chicago as a community organizer. The conclusion is that he is undoubtedly good at organizing and motivating people to get together, but entirely conventional and unimaginative in accomplishing anything significant with that organization. Worth pondering.Evan McKenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04479661304143631524noreply@blogger.com0